Today marks three weeks since Anna’s birth.  She passed her birth weight (7 lbs., 15 oz.) at her 2 week appointment, weighing in at 8 lbs., 4 oz. which made her mama very, very happy since she had lost the full 10% of her birth weight in the hospital and we had some catching up to do.  She’s eating well, and sleeping fairly well considering she’s only 3 weeks old.  I was all ready to brag her up after she had slept well for over a week of only two middle-of-the-night feedings, but of course babies like to keep ya hoppin’: last night she was up until 3:30 and then awake again at 5.  During the day, though, she’s been a very easy-going baby like her sister Kate was.

The sister adjustment has been going surprisingly well here, too.  I feel like God has been very gracious in allowing our big girls to continue to be excited about Anna being here and not becoming resentful about receiving less attention from mom and dad.  They are still regularly asking to hold her, help change diapers, and help give her baths.  Kate says, “She’s my beeeeeest BABY!”

Some of you may know that I had a c-section with Anna (my first c-section) at the advice of my doctors after some difficulties in recovering from Kate and Elena’s births.  I knew I was up for a completely different recovery with Anna’s birth, but overall I’ve been really pleased with how things have gone.  I was able to be completely off all pain medicine by about day 10 and am, in general, feeling really well but just lacking energy.  I was all excited about a trip to Target last Friday with the whole fam and we got halfway through and I was just about done in.  After Elena’s birth, several older women had told me that I could either spend 6 weeks taking life slower and recovering, or I would end up needing 6 months to really recover, so with all of our girls I’ve tried to take things slower during this time.  We had a bunch of help from my mom during the first few weeks which was a huge boost to my sanity, and I also had some help from friends and family with rides last week before I was cleared to drive again.

We’re looking forward to tackling some more life adventures with our three ladies!

It made me think about my bedtime routine with my girls.

The Current plan includes a story (~10 mins of reading and/or extemporaneous “fairy tale”) , 3-5 songs (nursery rhymes, sunday school songs, and a verse of a hymn or so) and a prayer (fairly rote bedtime prayer of thankfulness for the day, and asking for tomorrow)

I remember the bedtime routine with me and my dad.  As I recall, it included a story, recitation of Psalm 23, The Apostles Creed, and The Lord’s Prayer (all from memory).  I have no idea how consistent it was, but it was pretty entrenched in my mind.  It lasted through most of my early childhood.  I remember it fondly.  My dad did a great job. Taught me the foundations of the faith, and the importance of praying and memorizing scripture.  Even though I “drifted” from that faith through High School and first year of college, it was a powerful tool the Holy Spirit used in my heart to call me back to him.

This video, and that memory makes me think I need to step up my game a bit in terms of intentionality. I have a few short years with these girls. What do I want to build? What memories do I want to leave them with? I have general answers here.  Time to get specific.

We’d like to welcome Anna Elizabeth Heerema to the world.

Born June 2nd, 2011, 7:56am in Ames Iowa at Mary Greeley Medical Center.

Vital Stats

• Sex: Female
• Height: 20″
• Weight: 7lbs. 15oz
• Head: 14.5″
• Hair: lots
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Mammalia
• Order: Primates
• Family: Hominidae
• Genus: Homo
• Species: H. Sapiens
• Race: Human
• Alignment: Chaotic Good
• Class: Princess (Baby)

Meaning of the Name

Anna is a latinized Greek version of the Hebrew name Hannah, meaning “Grace” or “Favor”.

Elizabeth is a Greek translation of the Hebrew name Elisheva meaning “God’s Promise”, “God’s Oath”, or possibly “I am God’s Daughter”.

Of course all these names bear great significance to us, but our intended meaning is something along the lines of “Grace, God’s Promise”, which is the most important concept one can grasp. Also, we just like the sound of “Anna Elizabeth Heerema”.

Namesakes

There are several people we have in mind specifically with these names. Anna (being a fairly common name) is frequent in our family in various forms. Nancy, Diane, Hannah, Ann is the middle name of my sister and mother and also Nancy’s sister. It is also the name of several great grandparents: Nancy’s Great Grandmother Anna Elias, and Great Great Grandmother Anna Wigdahl.

Most preciously to us, two biblical figures:

First, the Asherite prophetess Anna, daughter of Phanuel, who was in the temple when the infant Jesus was presented and upon Jesus’ arrival there “began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38)

Also, Elizabeth, relative to Mary the mother of Jesus, who recognized Jesus as the Messiah before he was even born. (Luke 1:39-45).

Both these women waited long for God to answer various prayers of theirs (Anna was widowed at a very early age and spent her widowed years in prayer at God’s temple waiting for the promised redemption, Elizabeth was “very old” when she conceived her firstborn), and both were let into the “inside track” of God’s plan: Jesus.

Our prayer for our Anna is that God “lets her in on” His plan: Jesus. This is our highest desire and greatest goal for all our children, receiving the lion’s share of our prayer and effort in their lives.

Thanksgiving and Amazement

I am amazed and thankful for many things. I cannot believe I am a father to three children, let alone three girls. I consider this an honor, privilege, high calling, and a whole lot of fun. I have grown accustomed to pink princesses, and I think trucks and guns would take some getting used to (though I’m sure the adjustment would come ;-)).

Nancy never ceases to amaze me. She went through a Cesarian section smiling (yes. smiling.) And has born through the last two days of recovery with amazing poise. It hasn’t been easy for her. God has been merciful and given us both strength.

I am also very grateful for and astounded by the incredible health care we have here in Ames: the access to medicine, the technology – even just our own private, clean room and a dedicated ward for this purpose. Our anesthesiologist made reference to his medical mission in Guatemala and our desire to complain that we weren’t in the super-deluxe birthing suite and instead had to “settle” for a small recovery room evaporated. We have it good.

Thanks for all of your well-wishes and prayers. We feel very loved.

Soli deo gloria.

As such, this blog is looking a little… sparse.

It does give me an interesting opportunity to “reboot” my personal web sites; rethinking their purpose in the universe, which I will be taking some time to do over the coming weeks.  Hopefully something cool will result on the other side.

Thanks for bearing with me in the meantime.

About three years ago, Matt came home from some far-and-away business travels all excited about eating sushi. I was definitely, um, hesitant to say the least about trying it, but after a taste, I realized that it was something for which I could probably develop a taste. Eventually, spider rolls (fried soft-shell crab…no real spider in it ;) ) became my favorite but I still turned up my nose at the actual raw fish rolls. But recently, I have turned over to the dark side…and now I really, really like the raw fish stuff. Matt and I now drool at the mention of a fancy rainbow roll. Good sushi is definitely not a budget food, so to tide us over between visits to our favorite local spot, Matt has become very adept at making homemade California rolls. They’re definitely not fancy, but we love them!

We have yet to find a really good source of sushi-grade fish (as in here in Ames…any hints, anyone?) so we just use what we fondly call “Krabb” (imitation crab). And yes, we like to spell it out when we talk about it. :) A little avocado, cucumber, seasoned rice and KRABB on nori (seaweed paper) and don’t forget the sesame seed! DeLISH!

In my previous post I mentioned The Jesus Storybook Bible, by Sally Lloyd-Jones and illustrated by Jago. I think that some of my friends might be tired of hearing me talk about it because I get so excited about it!

Originally, I read about it last summer and the high praise was echoed several other places when we decided to check this out. Matt and I were so impressed with how Sally Lloyd-Jones gets to the heart of both of the Old Testament and New Testament Bible stories. Her tagline to the title is “Every story whispers his name” which says it perfectly: she brings out so beautifully how the Old Testament accounts point to Jesus. Her words are simple enough for our three-year-old to understand, but woven together in such a way that Matt and I have both found tears in our eyes at different times while reading this aloud. You can check out the deluxe version to hear an audio sample of the account of creation to get a feel for her writing style.

I’ve given this Bible as a birthday gift and also as a baby shower gift. You might say, “Well, isn’t a Bible a bit down the road for a baby?” If you have given birth, you probably are familiar with the exhaustion haze that comes from being up at all hours with a newborn. This is the perfect way to provide a new mom with something encouraging (but not too brainy!) to read at this time.

Adults will find Jago’s illustrations intriguingly artsy and kids will be drawn to the emotion in the characters’ faces. Our daughter will ask, “Why does he look so sad?”

Although this is definitely the first recommendation out of my mouth when someone asks about a children’s Bible (or a gift in general!), I’m just excited about getting (almost) any Bible in the hands of kids and their parents. In case you’re looking for something slightly different, we also own this board book Bible, this children’s Bible (which has simple discussion questions), and this children’s Bible that goes into a bit more detail. However, in clearly communicating the gospel, I feel like this one is tops.

I would say that I’ve been a Christian since about age 6, when I “asked Jesus to come into my heart.” Since then, I would have said I had a pretty good understanding of Jesus’ work on the cross, dying to pay for our sin. And for the most part, I was a fairly good kid: keeping my nose out of trouble, and generally doing what was expected of me. However, when I would hear songs like “The Wonderful Cross” and “Jesus Paid It All” and I would think, “Good grief…I haven’t done anything all THAT bad…” and part of me would just feel really uncomfortable.

A situation about two and a half years ago changed that. A set of circumstances made me see clearly, I think probably for the first time, how ugly my sin is to God. Without really realizing it, I had come to really, really like how people responded to me when I did the right/good/noble/expected things and ended up valuing that over God’s opinion. And in turn, I figured that God would probably be fairly impressed by that, too. Over and over the Bible talks about how God isn’t impressed by the things that people are, but that God sees past it and looks at the heart. I realized how awful my seemingly good works looked to God: things that I did to look good to people that were often motivated by jealousy, pride, or selfishness. Suddenly, I realized I wasn’t looking so hot in God’s eyes. Here’s this girl trying to be all religious when inside her heart is just ugly. In the Bible, Jesus uses religious people quite frequently to show how their hearts were in the wrong place and how they really liked the respect that their position got them. And that was me!

All of a sudden, I realized that need for that blood. I was really dirty. I am still so amazed that God hasn’t just zapped me out of existence…considering all of the junk that has been (and is) in my heart and mind. But, he loved me enough to not only not zap me out of existence, but to pay for all of the ugly things that I have (and still will) done.

There’s a children’s Bible that I love (The Jesus Storybook Bible) that puts it so simply: “All Naaman needed was nothing. It was the one thing Naaman didn’t have.” I was trying to please God and please people by doing, by having it all together. But all we need is the understanding that we don’t and can’t have it all together…that all our attempts at being good and perfect will fail. That’s why we need Jesus’ blood from the cross, the perfect sacrifice to pay for our sins.

I am afraid they (my children) do have hard thoughts of God and that’s largely because of my own sinfulness (anger, impatience, anxiety), which I am eager to continue killing by the Spirit. But apart from that, the question I have is, how do we as parents insist that our children obey us in the Lord without cultivating hard thoughts of Him?

I love his response to this.

Some highlights for our family this summer included a week at a cabin with Nancy’s family in northern Minnesota fishing, playing, and relaxing, and also a trip to Chicago with Matt’s family. The kids loved Brookfield Zoo and the Field Museum and we also visited some of his family’s old stomping grounds from when they lived there years ago.

Matt took a new job managing the Web team for Desiring God, a Christian ministry based out of Minneapolis, though he still gets to work remotely from his home office here in Ames. He occasionally has an overnight trip to the Twin Cites for 2-day meetings with coworkers… and we get to tag along! Additionally, Matt manages Zeke’s, a non-profit music & arts venue in Ames, coordinates and leads music for our church, and occasionally teaches at the church’s college ministry.

Elena is almost 3-1/2 and likes to write her name, loves to be read to, and is always asking to do some sort of crafty project. She is definitely a “girly girl” who loves princesses, dancing and fancy dresses.

Kate is 14 months old now, still has a very sweet disposition, and has been walking like crazy for 2 months. She seems to be a little bit more accident-prone than Elena was; she has chipped both of her front teeth in the last two weeks! She greets Daddy with both arms extended and a giant grin when he comes upstairs at the end of the day.

(Matt is now stealing the keyboard to brag about his wife) Just prior to the arrival of Kate in 2008, Nancy pushed pause on her private music studio to concentrate her full attention and effort on caring for our home and family. I am constantly amazed at the skill and joy with which she performs this all-important task. She still finds time to mentor young women in our church, and helped to coordinate a playgroup for other young moms. Amidst all this she does a masterful job of keeping me sane, her most important and difficult task. I am so blessed and constantly thankful for this rare jewel that I have in her.

Wishing you true joy and peace this season through Jesus,

Matt, Nancy, Elena, and Kate

Check it out at NotOurHome.com

Tozer on Possessiveness.

Check out the list.

My Winter Reading List – Matt Heerema

“My plea to young ministers, over and over and over again, is a plea for holiness! To be holy men of God! If we had time I’d love to take you over to 1st John 1 where he says there are two ways to deal with sin. One is to make confession and repentance a continual ethic, and the other is for you to be a liar!

To pretend that you are holier than you are, to pretend that you are godlier than you are, to buy into the pressure to wear a cape and let it flutter in front of your people, instead of continually confessing and repenting of the wickedness that is in your heart right now and if you are not aware of it then you have not done the hard work of letting scripture read your soul, you have not done a good job of slowing things down, breathing, and coming face to face with your own depravity.

What happens to pastors is that they spend their time, so much of their time, with immature believers that they begin to see themselves as some sort of spiritual superman. This is a problem. This is a problem.”

I need to sit on this and ponder for awhile. And then deal with myself.

This last week ChristianAudio announced that they were giving away the audiobook for free for the month of November. Get it get it get it! You can also read it online for free.

I have just finished listening to it. Oh my is it a gold mine. This particular piece nailed me to the floor. From chapter 7.

What about the Lake Home?

So what does a pastor say to his people concerning the purchase and ownership of two homes in a world where 2,000 people starve to death every day and mission agencies cannot penetrate more unreached peoples for lack of funds ? First, he may quote Amos 3: 15-”I will smite the winter house and the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish; and the great houses shall come to an end.” Then he may read Luke 3:11, “He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none.”

Then he might tell about the family in St. Petersburg, Florida, who caught a vision for the housing needs of the poor. They sold their second home in Ohio and used the funds to build houses for several families in Immokalee, Florida.

Then he will ask, Is it wrong to own a second home that sits empty part of the year? And he will answer, Maybe and maybe not. He will not make it easy by creating a law. Laws can be obeyed under constraint with no change of heart; prophets want new hearts for God, not just new real estate arrangements. He will empathize with their uncertainty and share his own struggle to discover the way of love. He will not presume to have a simple answer to every lifestyle question.

But he will help them decide. He will say, “Does your house signify or encourage a level of luxury enjoyed in heedless unconcern of the needs of others? Or is it a simple, oft-used retreat for needed rest and prayer and meditation that sends people back to the city with a passion to deny themselves for the evangelization of the unreached and the pursuit of justice?”

He will leave the arrow lodged in their conscience and challenge them to seek a lifestyle in sync with the teaching and life of the Lord Jesus.

Noel has created a helpful flowchart for dealing with someone who has sinned against you. I was expecting this to be humorous at first, but it ended up being very helpful. Check out his post and download the flowchart.

Ed Stetzer Shares 7 Big Church Planting Mistakes

As a teaser, here are the 7 mistakes: check the article for the explanations.

1. Forgetting the mission.
2. Being married to a model (way of doing things).
3. Not taking care of yourself. (physically, spiritually, taking care of family)
4. Arrogance.
5. Not taking believers deeper.
6. Ignoring hidden agendas.
7. Afraid of finances.

The Gun-Belt Gospel at The Gospel Coalition Blog

Three quick bullets (pardon the pun) from the article:

1. The lost are not targets of opportunity. They are not prospects. An encounter with them is not an argument to be won.

2. Converts are not the goal. Disciples are. Any method of evangelism that ends with the ‘Believer’s Prayer’ or a quick dunk in the baptismal pool but fails to produce disciples fails to be evangelism.

3. Evangelism is not about the evangelist. Evangelism isn’t about the potential convert. Evangelism is about the glory of God, spreading his renown, and adding to the chorus of those who will praise him forever.

(Sorry for the poor photo quality, I’ll explain below)

Darrell Klaver has been playing organ and piano at Community Church of Kamrar, Iowa for decades. CCoK is my wife’s “home church” (where she grew up and where her family still worships). It is a small but mighty church in the exact middle of nowhere.

I think I used to smile and chuckle a little bit in an “isn’t that quaint” fashion at Darrell’s extremely skilled, if a bit melodramatic, organ playing that reminded me of a turn-of-the-century silent film accompaniment. (Yes, an extremely arrogant judgement, and no, I’ve never seen a silent film.)

Darrell is in his mid-eighties, a very recent widower, and currently lives in the same assisted living facility that my grandfather does. This is where we encountered him tonight while paying Grandpa a visit on Kate’s first birthday.

Nancy asked Darrell how he’s been and he replied, “Not too well.’ Suffering from the same medical and emotional conditions any eighty-something recent widower who is all alone except for the occasional visit from family members would. He was also recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, though, “My hands are holding up so far.” He had also returned from the funeral of a longtime friend and fellow CCoK member who recently died of sudden and rapid cancer, just an hour prior.

Darrell was delighted to see Kate and and talk for awhile with Nancy. We asked if maybe he could play a few songs on the small Kurzweil keyboard in the sitting room. He quietly obliged. We went on with our visit with Grandpa.

After a few minutes I started recognizing the hymns he was playing. Majesty, The Old Rugged Cross, and What a Friend We Have In Jesus. I struggled a bit to hold back tears (which are coming back as I recount the scene). I took the above picture quickly and at a distance because I lacked the courage to explain the tears should he ask, and I didn’t want to disturb his beautiful playing.

This man, back from a funeral visitation, recently widowed, alone in a nursing home, newly diagnosed with a chronic, degenerative illness, and what was coming out of his heart?

Majesty, worship his majesty;
Unto Jesus be all glory, honor, and praise.
Majesty, kingdom authority,
Flow from his throne unto his own, his anthem raise.
So exalt, lift up on high the name of Jesus.
Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus, the King.
Majesty, worship his majesty,
Jesus who died, now glorified, King of all kings

and

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.

and my personal favorite

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.

Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised Thou wilt all our burdens bear
May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright unclouded there will be no need for prayer
Rapture, praise and endless worship will be our sweet portion there.

He finished with a rather rousing rendition of “God Bless America”, quietly got up, shut the keyboard off, and headed back to his room. We managed to catch him to thank him and share some birthday cupcakes with him.

I wept because I realized my pride in scoffing at his playing for years. True I loved him and appreciated him and his faithful service to that church, just didn’t think much of the music. What a fool I am. This man is ten times the worship leader I am.

I pray that when I am in his position, my heart will be in the same place. Thank you Darrell for your example. I’ll be sharing this with you next time I see you. If I’m able.

Reading this text blew my mind and sent me on a tangent that lasted for most of the sermon. I’d like to share with you some thoughts I’ve had after stewing on this for several days now.

Revelation 20:11-15 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.

Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.

Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Whoa.

Once we are done reeling at the magnitude of the scene presented here (which may take a couple years of processing), we start noticing details. Walk through the scene with me.

1. All the dead are resurrected and stand before God’s throne.
2. The books, containing a record of everything everyone has done in life are opened. (That’s a lot of books.)
3. Another, separate book is opened. The Book of Life.
4. Everyone is judged according to the content of the first set of books.
5. Anyone whose name is not written in The Book of Life is thrown into the lake of fire.

Whoa again. I can never read this or think through it without feeling a bit like I’ve been punched in the stomach. After we catch our breath, we can make a few observations. I deduce the following from these events:

Judged by our deeds: Guilty.

• Everyone is judged to be guilty according to the content of the first set of books and is headed for the fire.
• Anyone whose name is found in the book of life is, for some reason, spared (saved from!) this fate.

There is one other logical possibility if we focus solely this passage: some correlation between the contents of the books (your deeds in life) and the presence of one’s name in the book of life. A plain reading of Romans will quickly negate this, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus..” (Romans 3:23-24) This passage in Romans also gives us some clue as to the nature of the Book of Life.

Quick summary: We will be judged by our deeds, and found guilty, deserving punishment in hell for eternity. If our name is found written in the book of life, however, we will be spared this fate.

What is this Book of Life?

It is mentioned several other times in the New Testament, notably in Revelation:

Revelation 13:8

…and all who dwell on earth will worship [the beast], everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

Revelation 17:8

The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.

Key characteristics of the Book of Life

• It belongs to The Lamb who was slain (Jesus Christ)
• It was written before the foundation of the world.

This second characteristic is mind-blowing to me. Your name was written in the book of life before the world began. You were chosen for salvation from the lake of fire (the just punishment that you deserve for the content of your life) before the world began.

And it has this ultimate effect

Revelation 21:27

But nothing unclean will ever enter [the new Jerusalem], nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

The brackets here are my words. It is with pain that I excerpt this verse from the magnificent description of the new Jerusalem, heaven on earth, God making his dwelling with man.

It is only the presence of your name in the Book of Life that grants entrance to the new Jerusalem, what we typically call Heaven.

This IS The Gospel!

Your deeds in life earn you torment for eternity in the lake of fire. This is true for all people. If your name has been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb who was slain, you will be spared this fate.

How do you know if your name is written in the book?

This is the obvious question that results from the above (I hope). The question is answerable (at least partially).

You see, your name (if it is there) was not easily written in this book. In a poetic sense, this book is written with blood; Jesus’ blood.

God would be unjust, and therefore unrighteous, (and therefore not God!) if he let your sin go unpunished. He did punish your sin. The punishment you earned with the deeds of your life was carried out upon Jesus 2000 years ago at the cross. He was accused of deeds he was innocent of, but you are guilty of. He was punished for things you deserve to be punished for, so that you might not receive punishment.

Do you believe this? Does this stir your soul to a life of gratitude to Christ? Does this gratitude lead to a self-sacrificial attitude of service to others in word and deed in order to bring God glory for this? This is what is meant by “faith in Christ”. Faith and belief are the same concept (I wrote about this earlier.)

If this describes your life, I would wager that your name is written in the book.

If this is not the posture of your life, I would urge you to consider the historical fact, the reality, of the above message, and let it change your mind about God, because if you do not accept this reality, you are still headed toward that lake of fire.

The life of belief/faith in this message (acceptance of this message) is marked by repentance. Repentance means a turning away from, and change of mind about the way you are living your life (without God). It means that you put away striving after, thinking about, and working toward anything harder than you work toward knowing God and doing His will.

But what about…

This article may raise more questions than give answers, which is fine. It borders on issues of:

• Free will
• Can one’s name be removed from the book? (see Rev. 3:5)
• Evangelism (if their name is written, why evangelize?)

And probably many other issues better left to another time. Leave a comment and debate away if you’d like. If you consider yourself a believer and have an opposing argument, GREAT! But please argue from scripture (chapter and verse are helpful) rather than simply launching your opinion.

Our days were written in his book before any of them were…

I am in love with Psalm 139 along this line. Read the whole thing when you get a chance, but I’d like to close with verses 13-16

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

Amen.

1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (emphasis mine)

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Many many things stick out about these eleven verses and I could rave about a lot of them. What hit me this morning was this: After fourteen chapters of intense instruction to the Corinthians about deep and mysterious things… he comes back and reminds them AS OF FIRST IMPORTANCE of the foundation. What they need to know most is not all the mysteries about tongues, spiritual gifts, etc, but of the HISTORICAL FACT OF THE GOSPEL.

The personal realization of this historical fact drives Paul to WORK HARDER than anyone. But he does so in full view that he himself is not the source of the real work, nor does he need to somehow muster up the power or the will to do this work. Rather, it is the GRACE OF GOD THAT IS WITH HIM that is doing the work.

This reality is amazingly emboldening, confidence instilling, and peace giving.